Sage · All traditions · Pan-India

Shunahshepa

Also called: Shunahshepha, Sunahsepa, Devarata

The middle son of the seer Ajigarta, sold for a hundred cows to stand in for Prince Rohita as the victim owed to Varuna. Bound to the post, he praises the gods in the verses of Rigveda 1.24 to 1.30 and is released; Vishvamitra adopts him as Devarata. The Rigveda itself remembers him as bound to three posts and freed.

Sources: Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920); Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer · see Shunahshepa's web

Relations 4

Shunahshepa child of

Ajigarta Sauyavasi (Sage) · Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna
Father by birth in the Aitareya Brahmana and Bhagavata; the Ramayana names Richika.
Vishvamitra (Sage) · Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna
By adoption: the freed boy becomes Devarata, eldest of Vishvamitra's sons.

Shunahshepa appears in

Aitareya Brahmana (Text) · Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna

Shunahshepa devotee of

Varuna (God) · Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna
Bound, he calls on Varuna to loosen his bonds.

Stories 1

Shunahshepa, the boy bound for Varuna
Legend · as the substitute who sings himself free · 6 tellings

Cited

Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920) § aitareya.7.13-18 Primary text (translation)
Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 1.24.12-13 Primary text (translation)
Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 5.2.7 Primary text (translation)